"Although financial markets remain turbulent, such institutions represent a significant amount of the capital invested in private equity and are likely to continue to allocate increasing amounts to the asset class going forward," Jones added.

Larger SWFs are more likely to invest in private equity than are their smaller counterparts, it said.

In terms of geographical analysis, the majority of SWFs investing in private equity (73 per cent) are based in Asia or the Middle East and North Africa region, compared to 17 per cent in North America, 7 per cent in Australasia and 3 per cent in Europe.

Interestingly, North America-focused investments are the most sought after, with 76 per cent of SWFs having a preference for investments in the region while 72 per cent seek exposure to Europe and 62 per cent are keen on Asia-focused investments.

The report said that 79 per cent of the SWFs investing in private equity funds prefer buyout vehicles, followed by venture funds.